Patients and staff in recent weeks have moved into the new 150-bed Adult Mental Health Treatment Center, two years after Eastern State completed the 150-bed Hancock Geriatric Center for patients 65 and older. The two buildings replace cinderblock ones built in the 1950s at Eastern State, an inpatient mental health facility.

Before, patients dormed in buildings scattered around campus and were shuttled to appointments, group therapy sessions and activities in vans. Now, all the services are housed in the two new buildings.

That frees up more time for treatment, said registered nurses Terri Miller and Tracy Harris.

It also gives patients private rooms and provides more space for the roughly 300 group therapy sessions held every week. Christine Armstead, the psychosocial rehabilitation coordinator, has added five more to the schedule, including a second group that helps prepare patients for discharge.

For some patients, treatment includes learning independent living skills, such as cooking and how to do laundry, and working jobs in areas such as grounds keeping and housekeeping, to prepare patients for the working world, Armstead said.

"Everything that we do is to try to help our patients be as successful as they can when they're discharged," she said.

There's more than one way to get into Eastern State Hospital. Some are referred by Community Services Boards, which provide mental health, intellectual disability and substance use disorder services.

Others are transferred there short-term from jail, in hopes they can be restored to competency and assist their lawyers in their defense.

And others plead not guilty by reason of insanity to criminal charges. The court system oversees their progress to make sure they're not a danger to themselves or the community when they're released, Miller said.

Justin, 21, of Hampton came to Eastern State in February from Central State Hospital, a maximum-security facility.

He was diagnosed with bipolar disorder with delusions and pleaded not guilty by reason of insanity to assaulting a police officer. His last name is being withheld at the request of the state Department of Behavioral Health and Developmental Services.

Since coming to Eastern State, he has learned more about his mental illness and has strategies to cope with it, he said.

Every patient has an individualized treatment plan, designed by a team that includes a psychiatrist, psychologist, social worker, nurse, activities specialist and dietitian. The intent is for each patient to spend at least 20 hours a week in therapy.

Part of Justin's program includes working on a wellness recovery action plan, a tool for when he's discharged that will help him determine when a relapse is coming on and know what to do.

He's also working in the café. Part of that pay is going into an account that will give him something to live on when he's released.

When he gets out, he plans to take college classes and hopes to get a job in a restaurant.

"I'm not going to associate with anyone who smokes, does drugs or anything," he said. "I know how to walk away."

Norfolk resident David, 34, also came to Eastern State by pleading not guilty by reason of insanity. Three years ago, he was charged with carjacking. He was diagnosed with schizophrenia and bipolar disorder and has been at Eastern State for a year now.

He works in the kitchen and participates in psychosocial rehabilitation classes.

"It teaches that you can have hope that you can get well and you can stay well for long periods of time," he said. "It's a lifelong condition. You have to prepare yourself for the worst. You have to have a certain amount of fear of what could happen if you don't take care of yourself. You kind of build a force field around you and you only let people in that are trying to help you."

Mental illness is a chemical imbalance due to many factors — stress, environment, abuse, heredity, he said. He's aware that mental illness comes with a stigma.

"It doesn't bother me. A person with a mental illness has to work a little harder than the average person," he said. "A little more is asked of a person with a mental illness."

He's now able to manage his illness without medications and hopes to be released soon to his family rather than a halfway house.

He wants to go back to school and ultimately study architecture.

Eastern State is a better place for him than jail, he said.

"Jail is not designed for people dealing with psychosis, mental illness. It's a harsher environment," he said. Here, "You can recover from your illness and move on."